The big event of our visit, however, was seeing a literary reading: Naked Girls Read Neil Gaiman. It was exactly what the title says. Check out the news article. It started out with one dark burlesque number (she wore a terrifying mask for most of the performance), then moved on to the reading. Four women came out, disrobed, and read selections from Smoke and Mirrors, American Gods, Sandman, Wizards, and Good Omens.
They were, in fact, completely naked. I was surprised at first, simply because I thought that the title was more cheeky than literal; I assumed there would be thongs and pasties. (Also, I incorrectly assumed U.S. liquor laws, where you can't have full nudity and alcohol in the same establishment. Apparently Canada is more okay with that idea.) But the women were entirely nude, except for great hair, necklaces, and shoes.
Each woman had a different body type, and although they were all undoubtedly stunning, what struck me during the performance was how normal they were. I could see the shaving bumps, and the tendons straining in their high heels. I could hear the intonation in their fabulous reading voices, could see who they looked at in the audience. As the night progressed, and the readers drank a bit more, I could tell more about their personalities. They were smart, and confident, and goofy.
What I realized, sitting there, listening to these women read some of my favorite books, is how very little any woman ever sees another woman naked (unless they're regularly sexually active with other women). But even then, the more prominent image of "normality," or "how you should look" is this:
Not that's there's anything wrong with how these women look. But it gets very hard to find a media representation of anyone who looks like someone you'd meet on the street, or who maybe skipped shaving that day, or has AA cups, or EE cups, or who has scars, or has gone through childbirth, or is a woman of color, or is short, or would rather spend more time reading jezebel.com than work out. Let alone any intersection of those categories, or a multitude of others.
What I'm saying (and this has been said before, many times) is that women get bombarded with a very skewed sense of what is "normal." And not only that, but most of the personality or complexity within a woman is airbrushed out as well.. We're told that all that matters is our appearance, and we are told what that appearance should look like, and then sold products to make it look like that.
During the show, I got a chance to see four different women without their clothes on, and none of them looked like the prototypical female that I'd been sold. I was able, without shame (since they weren't ashamed), to see what different women looked like. Different breast sizes and shapes, different stomachs, different labia, different buttocks, different stretch marks and tattoos and piercings. How often does a woman get to see what other labia majora look like? And the end result is that there are hundreds of ways to have a normal, healthy female body. Of course the modern woman knows that, but it sure is nice to actually see that other women vary from the norm, and can be confident and sexy in those bodies.
There's a very important difference between knowing something intellectually and actually seeing it reflected in life. Seeing other women naked reinforces the idea that no, you're not the only one with cellulite, or small breasts, or pubic hair. There's something very reaffirming and revolutionary in viewing the nude body in a nonsexual way.
And in the end, what was so empowering about Naked Girls Read Neil Gaiman was that the women were naked, and unashamed, and after the initial shock, just...people. People who like reading books, and doing accents, and having fun. After the first half hour, the show was just the audience and four great readers, sharing our favorite stories.
-- Jazz
Thanks for saying what I wanted to say, but better. Who knew that naked girls reading could be so... un-sexual? In a positive way.
ReplyDeleteAlso, thanks for a great evening.